Beguil'd By One
by Vampiyaa
Summary: A one-shot. There's a war going on in the Underground between a group of angered citizens and Jareth's kingdom, Jareth is very close to defeat... and who else could be the leader of the group of nearly victorious misfits but the one girl he refuses to think of? Smut ;) Title stolen from Shakespeare: "To beguile many and be beguil'd by one."


Beguil'd By One

There was an intruder in the Underground, and Jareth knew quite well who it was.

After Jareth's unexpected defeat and heartbreak (though he'd never admit it) the King of the Goblins that brooded in the Castle Beyond the Goblin City was now more temperamental than ever, and for good reason. It wasn't just that someone — a little _girl_, no less — had beaten him at his own game, the majestic puzzle he'd looked after since the beginning of mankind, and it wasn't because he'd fallen in love with that little girl, and it definitely wasn't because, when Jareth had opened his heart and made himself vulnerable for the first time in his life, he'd been rejected, shrugged off like a bothersome insect. It was because his kingdom was in ruins.

News of Jareth's defeat spread like wildfire during a drought, reaching all ends of the Underground from the NightmareCaster Kingdom to the Northern Kingdoms of the Icemen. It wasn't even a month after She Who Shall Remain Nameless At The Present Moment took off back to her false life Aboveground (with his prized Goblin-to-be) that four of the hundred kingdoms joined together, combining resources and armies to invade the Goblin Kingdom.

Jareth knew he'd never been exactly kind to any of his neighbours— truth be told, he treated them just as well as he treated his Goblins. When the Icemen

Kingdom had begun to warm, he'd ignored their desperate pleas for his help. When the Dwarfs had an epidemic, he'd brushed them off; more concerned with not catching whatever the hell was making the Dwarfs turn purple.

But he had good reason, or so he thought, because they were all just _so stupid_, so _inferior _compared to him. Though it boosted his ego to know he was the smartest creature in the Underground, it greatly annoyed him to be living amongst an entire world of complete and utter imbeciles. He realized one night that that'd probably been the reason why he fell in love with She Who Shall Remain Nameless At The Present Moment— she was certainly clever for an Aboveground girl her age, though rather blind when it came to reality. Jareth had often caught himself dreaming of having her by his side making intelligent conversation, and in his fantasies he'd always look down at her and examine her slender neck and rose-kissed lips, her mahogany-raven hair that caught sunlight on every strand, her delightfully cruel and painfully beautiful eyes like sparkling emerald pools that Jareth wished to drown in.

Then he'd snap out of his trance and scold himself for thinking of her.

But the armies of the DreamCaster Kingdom, the Icemen Kingdom, the Syren Kingdom and even the Dwarf Kingdom, though pitiful when alone, were definitely a little more than a nuisance to Jareth and his kingdom. Now he — a _King_, damn it! — had been forced to fight with all the power he had against the armies, and as the Goblin army was even more pitiful than an army of rabbits in clunky armour, he wasn't doing too well on his own. The Castle Beyond the Goblin City had been reduced to nothing but crumbling ash and dust that now swept across the plains of the Elfin Kingdom (something they weren't happy about either, but then again, nobody in the Underground seemed to be happy)**. **The Labyrinth, in all of its puzzling glory, was holding strong against the armies, though several walls had been knocked down and a couple of Goblins were trapped underneath a fallen tree. Half of the Goblins had either purposely gotten trapped into Oubliettes or had hidden within the foggy forest inside the Labyrinth's walls, and the other half had been killed. There was no sign of Hogwart or Hogwash or whatever the fuck the little scab's name was, nor the obnoxious fox knight with an ego to match his own, or even the gentle giant Rock Caller, who at the moment would be very useful.

But believe it or not, the fact that he was losing the battle and that his kingdom was little more than rubble, was not the worst of the situation. No, what really took the cake was the fact that _She_ was fighting him as well, paired alongside with the Dwarf Kingdom. It had begun like so: the four armies had put up a better fight than he'd ever expected of them, but Jareth at this point had been winning. And then one night he received a surprise strike, when the Castle Beyond the Goblin City was still standing, and was utterly horrified to see _Her_ at the front, leading them to destroy his home.

Now, as Jareth and his remaining companions (a few loyal worms and some Eye-Moss) were taking refuge in an Oubliette, the farthest one from the surface, and he was burning with enough anger to make the cave walls glow slightly red. What reason could _She _have for joining those fools in waging war against him and his kingdom? He knew Shehadn't exactly been happy that he'd taken her brother, but Jareth was sure that She had grown old enough to understand that he hadn't kidnapped the babe: She'd wished him away, however 'accidentally'.

Frowning at a patch of Eye-Moss, which immediately shrivelled back in fear, Jareth paced around the dark Oubliette, wondering what to do. The night he'd seen her leading the armies against his Castle had gotten him so wound up he'd actually been nervous to the point of nausea and a migraine, and now, even just _thinking_ of her was making his chest tighten painfully. His gloved hands squeezed into fists and with a menacing grimace he decided he would have no choice but to face her.

With a swish of his wrist he transported himself above ground, only to find himself in the middle of an almost eerie silence. It was dark, far too dark, as if the moon had been destroyed along with his Castle, and there were no sounds of wildlife whatsoever, not even the occasional loud squawking of the Wise Man's Hat. There wasn't even the sound of the wind swishing through the trees.

Jareth froze when among the silence he heard the beginnings of hushed conversation, comprised of voices he recognized. One was that dwarf, the other was _Her. _Ah, he thought, both triumphantly and nervously, he'd found her. He inched closer to the source of the noise, careful not to nudge anything in the process.

"… and I ain't so sure about destroyin' the Castle Beyond the Goblin City, Sarah, yeh know it wasn't necessary…"

He heard _Her_ sigh.

"I know, Hoggle," she said, and Jareth died a little inside at the sound. It had matured with age, the voice of a woman, and held that familiar mixture of kindness and confidence. "I said the same thing to King Anuun of the Icemen, and he told me to, and I quote, 'go back Aboveground if I was going to get pissy about it'."

"Yeah," Hoggle grunted in agreement bitterly. "Anyway, we'd really like teh thank yeh for comin' down here and helpin' us out."

"Don't mention it, Hoggle," she said with a smile in her voice. "I just… I can't believe the Goblin King would refuse to help your people with that epidemic."

"Still, wasn't no good reason for blowin' up the Castle."

She sighed again. "I know, Hoggle, and I wish—" She stopped herself immediately. "I should have talked Anuun out of it. You should get some sleep," she added. "I heard Anuun blathering about poisoning the Oubliettes and I want to make absolutely sure that that won't happen."

"Yeh're right. G'night Sarah."

"Goodnight Hoggle."

Jareth heard the dwarf's shuffling footsteps fade, but not Hers. In fact, she seemed to stay put. Deciding it was time, Jareth thrust himself out of the bushed and smashed into something soft and warm, and with a cry of alarm she was pinned to what felt like a wide tree.

"It's nice to see you again, precious," he growled in her ear, his front pressed against her back.

"Goblin King," she replied coolly, as though he wasn't holding her hostage against a tree. "I assume you've been eavesdropping?"

"Not for long," Jareth admitted. "I came around at about the time you began speaking of some _very _interesting things… could it be you're showing remorse for me?"

Sarah scoffed. "Never you, Goblin King, but the creatures you treat so cruelly who were caught in the middle of this battle."

"The Goblins?" Jareth almost laughed. "Half of them are dead and the other half are about to be poisoned by that idiot Snowman King, if I heard correctly."

He felt Sarah tense beneath him. "You have to get them out!"

"I might," Jareth said airily, leaning over to breathe in her scent— God, that amazing mixture of honey and the sweet smell of spring mornings! "It depends what you're willing to do for it."

"You're not getting laid, Goblin King," Sarah said immediately, and this time Jareth did laugh.

"We'll see, dearest," he purred. "But that wasn't what I had in mind, so it seems you're the only one who has her mind in the gutter."

Beneath his hand he felt her skin heat up with embarrassment. "I suppose your sick thoughts are contagious. Have you been floating around in my dreams again?"

"Not at all, but I can take a wild guess at what your dreams contained," Jareth said softly. His eyes were starting to adjust to the darkness, and now he could see the dark-blue outline of the slim arch of her neck. "Now then, dearest, what are you willing to offer me?"

"A compromise," Sarah said darkly. "You get off of me, and I won't knee you in the crystals."

Jareth smirked. "Temper, temper."

"Fine then— how about you let go, and then I'll tell you?" she growled.

"I think not," Jareth grinned.

"If you don't, your glittery ass is about to get acquainted with my foot," Sarah snarled threateningly.

"Ah, now in a sense I would not object to such a theory," Jareth taunted. "Though most men would definitely find you a force to reckon with."

She stunned Jareth speechless when her voice dropped to a seductive murmur. "Most men do." Thrusting her hips back, she subtly brushed herself against him. Jareth's breath immediately hitched in his throat, and in the darkness Sarah smirked. With a sensual movement of her hips she rubbed her rear against his package, and her smirk widened when she felt him push himself against her, an animalistic snarl rumbling softly in his chest.

"Is this your method when being held hostage?" Jareth growled.

"Maybe," she purred, and Jareth actually groaned softly at her seductive response.

"Or is this, perhaps, your way of declaring the truth?" he added, gently kissing her bare neck and relishing the shiver that passed onto him too.

"And what might that truth be?"

"You want me."

It was enough to make even Jareth shudder with delicious arousal, and his semi-erect manhood hardened into a full-fledged erection that was pressing painfully against his breeches, begging for relief. He didn't care where that relief came from, whether it was her hand, or maybe her mouth or even—

"Get off," Sarah said immediately, snapping him out of his reverie.

"What happened to your earlier tactic?" Jareth mocked. "I daresay I was enjoying it immensely."

"Shut up, Goblin King," Sarah snapped, abandoning her efforts to seduce him off of her. "You deserve everything that's happened to you. You've pissed people off and caused suffering."

Jareth felt a flash of anger. "Oh really? And what, pray tell, do you know about me?"

"You refused to help the Icemen with their heat wave, and the Dwarfs with the epidemic," she said, voice radiating with hatred. "You allowed your Goblins to poison the Syrens' waters and you ignored the DreamCasters' pleas for help when they'd been plagued with a demon!"

With another stab of fury Jareth tightened his grip on her. "You know but bits and pieces of the puzzle, dearest, as do those imbeciles who call themselves Kings."

"And what could possibly justify all of those things, Goblin King?" she challenged.

"For starters, the warming of the Northern Kingdom was a natural environmental phenomenon," Jareth hissed in her ear. "If I'd intervened it would have caused chaos in the natural weather patterns. The Goblins did not poison the Syrens' waters, they merely sped up the process of pollution, the fault of the Syrens themselves. The DreamCasters' demon problem was out of my power, and as for the dwarfs' epidemic, that was also out of my power as well." He smirked. "Besides, they found out the cause of the plague. Who knew that all Dwarfs were born with an allergy to eggplants?"

Sarah was silent for a long stretch of time. "Wait, so that means—"

"It means that you and your army of idiots are waging war against the wrong person," Jareth interrupted sharply. "They have only themselves to blame and must get it through their thick skulls that I can't solve all their problems." He paused. "What grudge have you against me? Certainly you still can't be upset about wishing away your brother."

"Of course I'm not," Sarah said blankly, and Jareth felt a wave of relief that made his grip on her loosen slightly. "I couldn't see it when I was a child, but I can see now that you only did what I asked and that I'm the only one to blame."

"Apology accepted," Jareth said swiftly, for lack of anything better to say.

"I didn't apologize."

"I don't expect you to."

"I'm sorry."

That stunned Jareth into silence for a moment.

"As am I," he mumbled, releasing her. "It is… unfortunate that it has come to this."

There was an awkward pause, in which the two of them heard nothing but their own equally nervous breaths. Then, "Can I fix any of this? With a wish, I mean?"

Jareth contemplated. "Yes, precious, I do believe you can."

In the darkness Jareth saw her grin triumphantly, and she breathed in deeply. "Okay, let's see. I wish… I wish the damage from the war would be restored."

Jareth felt the familiar tug in his chest whenever she made a wish, and without even swishing his wrist he heard the loud rumbling sound of the Castle Beyond the Goblin City repairing itself. He heard her gasp happily and couldn't help but feel elated himself.

"I wish that all the kingdoms in the Underground would be at peace," she added almost excitedly, and Jareth chuckled as the tug pulled at him again.

"I…" her voice faltered with both nervousness and embarrassment. "I wish the Goblin King would tell me the truth, if his offer to me all those years ago was genuine."

Jareth's mouth opened in shock, and he didn't need the tug of magic to get him to blurt out, "It was more than genuine, dearest— it was honest to the core and I stand by it forever." Maybe it was Sarah's wish that was making him so blunt and vulnerable again, or maybe it was just because after several years she was finally here and this was probably his last chance at ever getting her, but at the moment Jareth didn't give a damn.

"I love you," he added almost helplessly. "Stay with me."

Every second of silence that ticked by was one silent but deadly panic attack after another. Then, "I wish the Goblin King would take me in his castle." A pause. "_Right now_."

With a relieved, elated cry Jareth swept her into an embrace so tight Sarah couldn't escape even if she tried, and transported them both into his new/old Castle Beyond the Now Rebuilt Goblin City. For a split second they simply stood there in whatever room Jareth had sent them to, sharing warmth and pain and joy, with Sarah's head buried into the crook of Jareth's neck and Jareth's hand on the back of her head, his fingers entwined in her feather-soft hair. He was half-slumped over her, arms draped around her waist as tightly as a boa constrictor, and in that sliver of a moment any onlookers would have thought that the Goblin King would break down and cry. They'd realize the next second that they were wrong when Jareth's hands seemed to spontaneously appear on her face, tilting her head up both gently and roughly as his lips slammed onto hers.

Oh, Gods Above, Below and In-Between, he was _finally _kissing her, something he'd only ever dreamed of! As he slanted his lips against hers he noted how she was nothing like what he'd fantasized about— she was better by far. Sarah tasted of sugar and exotic fruits and everything delicious, and her lips were too soft to be formerly kissed. The idea of being the first man — now the only man — to kiss her was delightfully thrilling.

She grabbed the front of his shirt, spinning him around and pushing him backward so that the backs of his knees came in contact with his bed and he collapsed onto it. In a second she was on top of him, straddling his lap and grinding her cotton-clad centre against his growing erection. He moaned into her mouth at the friction she was providing on his lap and she whimpered back at him, the most glorious sound he had ever heard… at least until he brought his hands up to run his thumbs over her pert breasts, nipples pebbling instantly against the tight linen of her shirt (no brassiere, he noted with delight) and, in a voice laced with desire, she moaned his name. His hips bucked against hers involuntarily and his now painful erection strained against its cotton cage. He wanted more. He needed to hear his name from her lips like that again. And maybe higher pitched and louder. Screaming. Screaming would certainly be adequate. More than adequate, in fact.

Her hands were moving now too, up and down his ribcage. Finally with a gasp, they broke their kiss just long enough to pull off each other's shirts and both moaning with the sudden expanse of skin on skin. He hooked his leg around her waist and flipped her over so that Sarah was beneath him and he had undeniable access to those gorgeous breasts. He immediately transferred his mouth from hers to latch onto one, letting his teeth nip at the soft tissue there and his tongue to roam over the sensitive underside. While whimpering insistently, Sarah very determinedly set about freeing his painfully caged erection to no avail, and when she gave up and simply stroked him through his pants he jerked away from her breasts and shuddered.

"Off," she commanded, tugging at the stretchy fabric with a needy frown.

He complied, couldn't have refused even if he wanted to, flicking his wrist so that his pants disappeared. Even with that action he gripped her face with two hands and stared hard at her in earnest. "Sarah, you must be certain. Because once we begin, I can't stop. Is this what you want?"

Her lovely jade eyes narrowed down at him, and instead of answering she lowered her centre and pressing it deeply against his naked erection, and he could feel the dampness between her legs in contact with his hard length.

"_Fuck_," Jareth growled, trying not to loll his head back. "You didn't answer my question, Sarah."

"Didn't I?" she whispered coyly.

He groaned when she rocked her hips. "Please, Sarah, you must say it. I need you to say it." He looked at her, saw the look in her eyes and suddenly he was overwhelmed with a rush of love and desire so strong that he gasped.

"I want you," Sarah murmured darkly.

And he was lost. Their clothes disappeared before she had the chance to so much as move and his erection was throbbing against her thigh. He kissed her fiercely again and when she pulled away to look him in his lovely mismatched eyes, she saw they were almost completely black, overwhelmed with passion and desire so dark that she shivered. He moved so he was poised at her entrance and his body shook with anticipation. With a determined motion, her hips surged forward to suddenly engulf him and the sudden feel of her spectacular velvet warmth around him almost made him come immediately like an overeager teenager. He had waited so long for this. In a long, slow motion he pulled out from her almost all the way before surging forward to bury himself inside her completely again. She writhed and moaned underneath him, offering him filthy encouragements that sounded like they came straight from the fantasies he often dreamt of at night, as did the sounds coming from himself, grunts and growls of possessiveness to accompany each hard, full thrust into her body.

Jareth's movements became faster, more erratic, and her words turned into incomprehensible whimpers of pleasure mixed with a cacophony of different ways of saying his name, all of which pleased him to his core.

"You are mine," he told her through gritted teeth.

"Yes," she sighed, splaying her hands over his arse and pushing him deeper. "And you're mine. Forever."

"Forever?" he repeated hopefully.

"Forever."

And with that he pounded into her once more, finding completion in her in more ways than one. They both exploded with pleasure, both simply holding each other and shuddering violently as they both shouted out their release, and it was so much more than any of them had ever expected, more than they could have hoped for. After the aftershocks subsided, he rolled off of her carefully, holding her tightly against him and sighing into her hair.

"My Sarah," he murmured.

"I love you."

Jareth stiffened, wondering for a split second if he'd imagined it, but when he looked down at her with his mouth open and saw her smiling, eyes shut, he knew she'd said it. He grinned. She was his.

Forever.

"To beguile many and be beguil'd by one." – William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure.

**A/N: Another one shot smutfic featuring our favourite Labyrinth pairing and a Shakespearean title (that man is brilliant). I wrote this a loong time ago but never finished it, and now seemed like the time to. :) To those expecting a SWD and AOTD update, that won't be for a while, I'm afraid :( Sorry, but not only am I DROWNING in writer's block for those two, I'm also buried underneath a thousand plot bunnies for one shots. Rest assured, however, I'm not giving up on either of them! Anyway, hope you enjoyed ~ Vampi****  
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